Eternal Flame
by Aeriel Cross
Summary: Rhode and Allen meets unexpetedly and has a little chat about what it means to be a Noah...and a human. Mild RhodeAllen


Title: Eternal Flame

Author: Aeriel Cross

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Romance/ General

Pairing: Rhode/ Allen

Summary: Allen and Rhode meets unexpectedly and has a little chat about what it is like to be a Noah.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of dgray man. Honest.

This is just a super spontaneous story that can be one of my Rhode/Allen oneshot series to Games of Hatred, maybe.

'_You'd never understand the burden of eternal life,' she said._

Unexpectedly, the next time Rhode saw Allen, it was at a cemetery.

It was night, the sky black velvet with a sprinkling of stars, the air cool with the song of crickets. Allen was alone, and standing in front of a lone grave near a dead tree. He was already there when Rhode arrived, head bowed in silence, seeming to be deep in thought about something. He didn't see Rhode as she sat on one of the overhanging branches near the grave, watching him silently. Even Rero was unusually quiet that night. Since he didn't seem to take notice of her, Rhode contented herself with watching him.

Allen looked unusually tired as he stood before the grave, his eyes full of fatigue and bone-deep tiredness. His shoulders slumped, his golem hovering near him, its tail patting his head occasionally in a gesture of comfort. He looked so child-like, standing there, a mix of emotions on his face so intense it was hard to tell which is which. The curse on his left eye seemed to have darkened considerably when the wind blew and his hair moved to allow her a glimpse. Minutes passed, and curiosity had the better of Rhode.

'Good evening, Allen-kun.'

Allen's head snapped up, and the minute he saw her, the look in his eyes immediately turned hard, guarded. In a flash his invocated anti-akuma weapon was up and firing. Rhode leapt up nimbly from her branch to the one above her as the bullets whizzed past beneath. Then he stopped, glaring at her, eyes full of hatred.

'Hey, I'm not here to fight you,' Rhode complained lightly. 'I just wanted to say hi.'

'What do you want?' His tone was dead. Harsh. Demanding.

'Aw every time I turn up you'd think I've come for a purpose,' Rhode groaned, and jumped down from the tree, then walked up close to his arm, so close that she could feel the heat coming off it. Reaching out with a hand, she rested it gently on his arm, pressing the muzzle to her chest. 'If you think I'm here to kill you, then you can shoot me.'

A few seconds ticked by, and Allen gritted his teeth and lowered his arm before looking away.

'That's right,' Rhode said softly. 'If I wanted to kill you, I'd have done so earlier. You never did notice me.'

Allen remained silent, gazing at the name on the gravestone, still wary.

'So, who are you looking at?' Rhode followed his gaze. Serene moonlight fell on the gravestone, illuminating the name 'Mana Walker' engraved deeply into the stone in block letters. 'Is that your father?'

Silence.

'It must hurt a lot. You loved him greatly, didn't you?'

'You won't understand these feelings,' Allen finally spoke harshly. 'Why would you? You're a Noah.' His tone was bitter, accusing, mocking.

'Yes, a Noah, humans chosen by God,' Rhode stepped up to him, and putting her arms around his neck, hugged him. 'But we're not Akumas. We're humans.' She could feel Allen's heart beating slowly, steadily beneath her own. He felt so warm…so warm….

'You know what, Allen-kun? Sometimes I envy you humans so much,' she continued. Allen's eyes widened, disbelieving. She could hear his sharp, sudden intake of breath. 'You're so lucky to be human.'

'Why?' he asked.

'Because, you humans are short-lived,' Rhode ran her fingers through his hair, and caught a faint smell of soap. 'That's why, you feel things more intense fully than we do. You feel joy at the first flower of Spring, sorrow at failure, anger…everything that comesa long your way would be remarkable, memorable - because you have limited time, you tend to appreciate every single little thing.'

Letting go of Allen, she strolled over to the gravestone, running her fingers lightly over the coarse, rough surface.

'Like your father here. You feel sad for him, because you won't see him again, but not forever, because you have other things in your life to help you move on, and one day, eventually, you'll die and see him. But us, maybe we will feel sad at first. Regret, maybe. We have lived for too long a time. So long, that too much sorrow has befell us. We have our friends, and we watch them die, one by one, then we'd be all alone in the end. We've learnt to be detached about everything, because in the end we'd still be on our own. Even if we do remember, we're so used to it we feel nothing at all.

'You try your best in everything, because you don't know when you'd die, but for us, time has stopped. If we fail, we can always try again, and again. You live your life like fireworks, us like glowing embers. Even if you die, there'll be someone who'll remember you. That's why.'

'But you are the ones who want to wipe out the human race.' Allen looked so innocent, so soft, so naïve…so vulnerable. The look he had was utterly confused.

'Maybe it's because we're envious. Maybe it's our own pitiful attempt to hold on to what we have, and not to lose it again. Just like you trying to save what cannot be saved. See? ' Reaching over, Rhode plucked a white flower from the ground and lifted it up to the moon, turning it this way and that. 'You can say in a way we're not unlike Akuma. But at least Akumas can be 'saved' by you exorcists. We cannot. We have sinned so much that we are not even allowed to love, or die when we want to. We can only live on like empty shells.'

'So, it's our revenge on you humans. You foolish humans keep on chasing after eternal life without a care at all for the consequences. So fragile and foolish, yet you think you're smart…' Rhode smirked to herself. 'Yet it's why we envy you. How ironic…'

'Rhode, what if someone comes along and-' Allen looked at her, a mix of contradicting emotions in his eyes – was that sorrow she saw?

'Save me? No, Allen-kun. We've done too much 'unjust', like you say. If our God wants to punish us, so be it. You can't even save yourself, why talk about me? Sauntering back to Allen's side, she put her hands around his neck, then kissed him softly, just a light brush of her lips on his. 'Don't look at me like that – don't pity us, Allen. Be clear about our sides…just this once we're able to talk as equals.'

Releasing him and stepping back, she sat on Rero as he took flight in the air. Allen stood there numbly, a shocked expression on his face. Such a pitiful creature, Allen was. He still wasn't clear about his and her stand, and viewed her as an equal.

_Poor, poor Allen…don't you understand I'm your enemy…?_

_Don't you understand you'll have to kill me?_

She watched the moonlight illuminate his hair and pale complexion, then smirked, and laughed aloud. 'Good night, Allen-kun,' she called out. 'Say farewell forever. Because the next time we meet, it will be as enemies.' With her laughter still ringing in the air on the hollow night, she disappeared in a gust of wind back to her dimension, leaving behind nothing but a lone white flower on the grave.

_Just this once, let me wrong myself, because it won't happen again._

_Because the next time we meet, I'll kill you._

A.N: How was the story? I hope it was okay…well, if you enjoyed it, do let me know! Thank you!! Any story requests coming on?


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